Rin didn't feel her body fall.
It was like the thread had pulled her straight out of herself—no warning, no control. Just a rush of colors, sounds, and emotions that didn't belong to her… and yet somehow did.
Then suddenly, it all slowed down.
She was standing in a garden.
It was quiet. Peaceful. Like time had paused just for this moment.
There was soft sunlight falling through the trees. The sky was open and calm. Birds were chirping. Everything looked normal—too normal, like a memory trying too hard to stay alive.
And then she saw them.
Elias… and Reika.
Sitting together on a wooden bench under a flowering tree.
They weren't talking, just holding hands like they'd done it a thousand times. Reika had that soft smile on her face, the one Rin barely remembered anymore. Elias looked younger—lighter. Like the weight he carried in the present didn't exist yet.
Rin felt her chest tighten. This was a piece of the past… one that had never been shown to her. A moment too quiet to be remembered by most, but it meant everything.
"That's why we can't tell them," Elias said quietly.
Reika looked at him, eyes full of something too deep to name.
"I know. But one day… they'll have to remember."
"They'll hate us for it."
"No. They'll understand. Maybe not now, but someday."
Rin couldn't move. Couldn't speak. This wasn't just a memory.
This was a truth that had been hidden.
Kael was here too—at the edge of the memory, watching from a distance. Not saying anything. Just… watching. Like he wasn't supposed to be part of this memory, but he couldn't stop himself.
Rin turned toward him. "You were here?"
Kael didn't answer. His eyes were on Reika.
There was pain in them.
Because this was more than just Elias and Reika's moment.
It was a world where they all existed—together. Before everything broke.
Reika rested her head on Elias' shoulder.
"I wish this would last," she whispered.
"It won't," Elias said, honest as always. "But I'll remember it, Reika. Every time I see you again… in every version of you… I'll remember."
And then the wind changed.
Just a little.
But it was enough to make the memory start to fade.
Rin reached out, trying to hold onto it, but her hand passed right through.
"No, wait—please—just a little longer…"
Too late.
The garden was gone.
And the next second, she was back inside the Vault. On her knees. Gasping.
Kael grabbed her shoulders. "Rin! Hey—are you okay?"
Her eyes were full of tears she hadn't realized she was crying.
"That was real," she said softly. "That wasn't just a memory. That was something I wasn't meant to see."
Kael's jaw was tight. "It was buried. Probably locked inside Mikado. Meant to stay forgotten."
"But why?"
Kael didn't answer right away. Then he looked toward the sleeping figure in the center of the vault.
"Because some truths don't just change the past… they break the future."